By John Helmer, Moscow Not even the two people usually familiar with the matter were able to convince Bloomberg that there has been genuine demand in the London market for Megafon shares at Alisher Usmanov’s asking price. Instead, as the company and its underwriters tried to sign buyers before the subscription book closed this afternoon, […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 27th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow The November 15 announcement by Megafon, the telephone property of Alisher Usmanov and Andrei Skoch, reveals a discount on last month’s valuation targets of up to 20%, depending on how the assets for sale are counted. To attract buyers for shares at bargain-basement prices, the company is promising to pay out […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, November 15th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow It happened at the same time in February, when the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was rehearsing members of the Pussy Riot group, recording voice-over of a script against then presidential candidate Vladimir Putin , and fabricating a performance in Christ the Saviour Cathedral for which two members of the group are […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 6th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Gennady Timchenko is usually so discreet, he engages lawyers to warn reporters away from peering too closely at his private life. So when his friends, all of a sudden and in unison, start telling a Moscow newspaper that he has decided to move back to Russia, Timchenko is either acting out […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, October 21st, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Vladimir Ashurkov was advertising his principles last week in the Moscow Times. He is currently executive director of the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, one of the organs of the political opposition led by Alexei Navalny. Ashurkov is described by the newspaper as the principal fund-raiser for Navalny, and himself a candidate […]

by John Helmer - Monday, October 15th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow It’s no surprise that when Alisher Usmanov (left) proposed an initial public offering (IPO) of Megafon, a mobile telephone company he controls, he decided to keep all his shares to himself, and to oblige new sharebuyers to bid for stock being sold from the treasury of Megafon, and from minority stockholder, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 10th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Journalists arranging tuxedo events to give themselves prizes are even sillier than Hollywood actors at the Oscar ceremony. There are also no comedians to tell jokes to neutralize the gastroenteric reflex that is always brought on in audiences by a surfeit of brown-nosing. For the British children in the audience who […]

by John Helmer - Monday, October 1st, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Private Eye, the only periodical of investigative journalism still made of paper and ink and for sale in the UK, is old enough to be a grandfather in his dodders. So when the editor, Ian Hislop (aged 52), and his anonymous reporters took sides with Pussy Riot last month, it may […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 13th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent in Moscow named Steven Rosenberg staged and filmed a rehearsal of what he claims Pussy Riot told him they were planning at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral at least a day, possibly several days before February 21. That is the day when three of the […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Tall stories told by newspapers and their reporters generally don’t start wars. But they do justify them in advance. Afterwards they protect the officials who start them from being prosecuted for war crimes. On August 5, 1964, there was no truth in President Lyndon Johnson’s claim – reported by every major […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 26th, 2012
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